This week was the first week our CSA brought us beets. Now, at the risk of sounding like a bad vegetarian semi-hippie locavore, I must confess that I don’t really like beets. I’ve never enjoyed eating them alone or on salads, and figured that I would leave this week’s beet eating to Anthony, who likes eating beets almost as much as he hates wasting food (a lot).

At least, this is what I thought until Thursday night of this week, when Anthony and I ate dinner at our friends Susan and Troy’s apartment. Fellow CSA members who also run Fountain Studios, Troy and Susan served us some of the tastiest veggie burgers I’ve ever had. Even though they featured beets as a main ingredient, the veggie burgers had a perfectly earthy and savory flavor, as well as good texture, something that can be hard to achieve with veggie burgers.

Of course I asked for the recipe, which you can find at thekitchn.com. We made them the next day to similarly awesome results.

Rather than reproducing the recipe here, you really should just check out the original post. We followed the recipe rather closely, with only a few additions/alterations.

First, for the ingredients, we also added one chopped chipotle pepper in adobo sauce to the frying pan at the same time as the beets.

Second, we also added cumin and hot sauce to the burger mixture.

Third, we used breadcrumbs instead of flour to firm up the mixture. The mixture ended up looking like this:

(Note the leftover beet greens on the left. I know they’re edible; any ideas for what to do with them?)

Fourth, we made the patties a little smaller than the recipe calls for, having been warned by Troy that the patties should be a bit smaller than the bun so they don’t escape the bun after getting a little squished while eating them. While the recipe says it makes 6 burgers, we made 8.

Finally, we wanted to have firmer patties for easier frying, so we took the following steps: when the mixture was complete, we formed the patties, then dipped them into a plate filled with breadcrumbs. We then placed them in the fridge for an hour. The refrigeration made them even firmer, however if you’re in a hurry or just super hungry, this step isn’t completely necessary. When we took them out, they looked like this:

After sauteeing in olive oil, we served these burgers with cheese accompanied by a salad of CSA lettuce and cucumbers. I made a simple vinaigrette (2 parts olive oil to 1 part red wine vinegar plus a dab of french mustard, salt, pepper, and a dash of hot sauce).

All in all, a great dinner as well as an excellent use of beets!